Ever have one of those nights where you are so tired you are dead to the world? That was me last night. I was OUT. Around 7am this morning, I was woken up by the sound of Jeremy asking where Isaac was. I couldn't really concentrate on the question because my neck was hurting so bad. The muscles were so tight and the pain was radiating into my shoulders. I figured I was so tired I must have slept in a funny position and not even realized it. As I became more awake and started going over Jeremy's question in my mind, my hand slid under my pillow and felt a foot. This really didn't even register with me as odd, I guess I'm just used to waking up and feeling random child sized body parts in the bed. Then I slid my other hand under the pillow, and this time felt a head. What in the...... Attached to the foot and the head was a whole child! At some point in the night, Isaac crawled completely under my pillow and curled up into a little ball. I have no idea how or when he got there, but that certainly gives an answer to why my neck was hurting so bad; I was sleeping on a lumpy 2 year old with a light layer of pillow on top! And, just like any parent, Jeremy just grabbed his feet and slid him out, and we all went back to sleep for a couple more hours. :)

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Well, we finally stepped out of the 80's and got a Wii. (really, the only other video game system we have in the house is the NES, from 1985! I have a soft spot for old classics) We found a screamin' deal on Craigslist from a video game loving family that just didn't find time to play the Wii with all the other systems in their house. We ended up with 20 games, 4 remotes, and all other kinds of goodies for an unbeatable price. (gotta love a good bargain!) We've been having a great time playing together. Last night I was up with Cai, so I decided to pop in Big Brain Academy. Funny enough, I scored best in memorization. For those that don't know what this is funny, let me recap the past week and a half for you: LAST week, I thought Thursday was Friday, thought Friday was Saturday, thought Father's Day was LAST Sunday (it's today), thought our homeschool party was on Monday (it was on Sunday and I didn't realize until it was already over), I texted Jeremy on "Wednesday" night and asked him to put out the trash can when he got home from work and he texted me back letting me know it was Thursday night and trash had already been picked up that morning, I completely forgot how to spell Micaiah's name (had to look it up and everything), and forgot what Nahshon's birthday was when making Wii Mii's with the kids. Would it surprise you to know that my overall brain grade was C-? Probably not.

Bella is a party planner. She loves to plan celebrations. She has Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and everyone's birthday planned out for the next five years. Whenever she starts planning a new celebration, she gets the other kids really excited about it, and they start making wish lists. Combine this with the fact that I do a summer Christmas party with the kids (which is coming up soon), and now I have Genna's Christmas wish list. What does her wishlist include you may ask? What does this have to do with the Golden Girls? What makes her the only 7 year old in America? Well, here is your answer:

Genna's Christmas wish list

American Girl doll- Kit Kittredge

Kit doll accessories and Kit movie

stuff for her new room (getting ready to do a room shuffle)

Golden Girls on DVD

clothes

wii game

Did you catch that? My 7 year old wants THE GOLDEN GIRLS ON DVD! What child asks for that? I can guarantee that if she knew Murder She Wrote is also available on DVD, she'd ask for that too. Yeah, my daughter is a 60 year old woman at heart. ;)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

On Monday afternoon I found myself temporarily frustrated by the fact that my fridge is so full of food, I couldn't figure out what to fix the kids for lunch. Then when I finally made a decision, I had to dig around to find the fresh veggies. When I was cooking I realized what great problem that is, and how stupid it is for me to feel frustrated about that. I think that problem ranks right up there with not being able to decide on an outfit or trying to choose between a latte and a frappuccino on a warm but rainy day. I'm grateful to have the luxury of stupid problems once in a while.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Today while Bella and I were walking through Borders, she was carrying her drink from lunch and said "I wish these pants had cupholders!" I can only imagine what that would look like, but I'm sure Bella would wear them proudly!

As we were leaving the mall, we passed by a candy shop and Bella exclaimed "What!?! They have candy stores in this land? Oh this is great, now I can definitely have a candy shop when I grow up!" First, clearly we need some more geography lessons. (this land? what?) Second, is there any question why her nickname is sugar-butt?

I've always loved reading. I remember as a child when there was no school, I would spend hours reading at my parent's shop. My favorite series as a kid was The Babysitters Club; I used to read an entire book in one day! It makes me so happy to see my kids love books as much as I do. I snuck this picture of Genna one afternoon when I found her reading a book of fairy tales to her favorite teddy.

Today Bella and I spent the afternoon at the mall, and stopped by Borders while we were there. I absolutely LOOOVE book stores, and can spend hours upon hours wandering around them. (not to mention lots of money!) We headed to the children's section and I told her to look around while I looked for a new read-aloud book for the kids. (ended up picking up The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary) After I grabbed our new read-aloud book, I walked over to the little table and chairs and found Bella sitting there with a giant stack of books. I can't help but smile when I see something like that! She looked through three giant stacks of books before finally selecting a My Little Pony story to bring home. As soon as we got home she proudly displayed her selection to daddy, and then cuddled up to Micaiah and made up her own little story to go along with the pictures.

As a mom it makes me happy to see my children love books, and as a homeschooler it makes me very proud. I also feel though, that if I'm able to send my kids out into the world with a love of reading and a thirst for knowledge, they'll be OK no matter where the end up or what they end up doing.

The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. ~ Dr. Seuss

Monday, June 8, 2009

I once heard a pastor say "If your Bible is in good shape, you're probably not"

Anyone that has been following this blog probably knows that in January I bought a new Bible with the goal of reading it start to finish. I'm happy to report I'm now in 1 Chronicles. Jeremy and I have also started reading a Proverb a day. (there are 31, one for each day of the month!) I have also read Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon out of interest, and will re-read them when I get to them in my journey of going start to finish. I didn't give myself a time limit to complete this goal because I wanted to make sure this was a goal I didn't give up on. This simple decision of reading start to finish has brought about some amazing changes in our lives, and I'll will be writing about those this week when Micaiah gives me more than 5 minutes of free time. (though, do mothers ever really have free time?)

Today Genna and I needed to run to the bank, but somehow took a wrong turn and ended up at Target........ Anyway, when we got home we were greeted with a wonderful surprise: Lisa, Gina, a half dozen extra kids, a stack of fresh pizzas, and gifts for baby Micaiah! What a great surprise for a Monday afternoon.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

If I was talking about Chinese food, that just might be one tasty platter. Unfortunately though, that is not the case.Steamy. It is so darn hot it is downright steamy! Sticky. Skin, clothes, furniture; everything feels sticky with sweat. YUCK! Sour. That's pretty much everyone's attitude right now. This hot weather just makes us all miserable and grumpy.Poor Micaiah doesn't know what to do with himself in this heat. He's so restless and uncomfortable, but holding him and/or nursing him just makes him hotter and more uncomfortable. The other kids are getting so snippy. When it's too hot to move though, I really can't blame 'em. I guess this shows what a true western Washington native I am because I cannot handle these 90 degree temps! I really really hope this isn't going to be a super hot summer. As it is I'm already counting the days until September. I love autumn here. For me, it's perfect. Lots of warm days with lots of cool rainy days sprinkled in. It smells wonderful, and looks beautiful. Summer is fun, but only at 80 degrees, maximum. I hate feeling like a puddle that needs to be mopped up. Blech! I guess it's time to stock up on smoothie fruits and pudding pops!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

My parents gave this to me and Jeremy as our birthday gift this year. (our birthdays are just a couple days apart) I had never heard of this before, but it's really cool! It is a digital video recorder that is about the same size as a standard digital camera. It has a pop-out USB, so it plugs right in to the computer when you want to download your video. It seems pretty simple to use. I have not downloaded anything yet, but you can be sure to look for a home video from me in the near future! Thanks mom and dad!